Cuba is set to become the latest country in Latin America to approve gay marriage, after the National Assembly on Sunday signed off on a new constitution that defines marriage as “the consensual union of two people, regardless of gender”.

The new constitution, known as the Magna Carta – which also recognises private property for the first time since the Cold War – will be put to a referendum later this year.

The news was met with elation by the LGBTQ community, many of whom were hopeful but not certain the measure would pass.

“This is marvellous,” said Pablo Navarro, 70, who spent two years cutting sugar cane in a correctional labour camp in the 1960s because of his sexuality. “I feel proud that the new generation can enjoy this achievement even though we couldn’t.”

“It’s a really important step forward,” said Yeandro Tamayo, 40, a gay theatre director from Havana, who watched the National Assembly debate the issue live on television. “I’ve never been interested in marriage, now they they have approved it, I might get married myself!”

Legislators voted unanimously for the new constitution, replacing the current constitution’s definition of marriage as the “voluntary union between a man and woman”. The new constitution does not explicitly address the question of whether gay couples can adopt children, although experts say this will now likely be possible.

Prior to the vote, popular campaigns both in favour of and against same-sex marriage led to rare, open political debate on the Communist-ruled island. Read more via the Guardian

Cuba's new constitution would allow same-sex marriages

HAVANA, Cuba - The new constitution being debated this weekend by Cuban legislators would provide a legal path for same-sex marriage, an important demand of the socialist island's LGBT community.

The document's Article 68 would define marriage as the "voluntary and consensual union between two people" without specifying their biological sex, the official newspaper Granma said Saturday, reporting on National Assembly debates over the proposed changes in Cuba's basic law. The current constitution, dating from 1976, limits marriage to the "voluntary union of a man and a woman."

The change would "open the door to legalizing homosexual couples for all posterity," Francisco Rodriguez, a journalist and well-known gay activist who is also a member of the governing Communist Party, wrote in his blog.

By incorporating "the principle of non-discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity," the new wording could facilitate other legal and policy changes to protect the island's LGBT community, he said.

Still, Rodriguez warned that "the fight ahead will not be easy." Certain political and ideological forces will "do everything possible to wreck these dreams," he said. For more than a decade, the lawmaker Mariela Castro, daughter of former president Raul Castro, has promoted LGBT rights.

In the early days of the 1959 revolution, gays were persecuted in Cuba, even sent to forced labour "re-education" camps. Read more via AFP